Dr. Rick Brennan

Rick Brennan is Director of Emergency Operations of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Emergency Programme. Based in Geneva, he oversees support to WHO’s response to outbreaks and emergencies globally.

Rick has been Emergency Director at WHO since 2012. From October 2014 to January 2016, he was also Director of Ebola Response at WHO headquarters. He has extensive experience in humanitarian settings in over 35 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Rick received his medical degree for the University of Sydney and undertook emergency medicine training in Australia and the United States. After receiving a Masters of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins University, he worked with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on humanitarian, chem-bio-nuclear and civil-military issues. Thereafter, Rick spent 10 years as the Health Director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in New York, overseeing technical support to humanitarian programmes world-wide. Immediately prior to joining WHO, he spent two-and-a-half years with JSI Research and Training in Liberia, managing a large post-conflict health system reconstruction project.